Is it Too Late to Say Sorry?
by Sayorii-chii
Summary: Taking place after 'Without A Hitch', after being revived Flaky recalls Flippys' actions during that Halloween evening. Guilt overpowered her phobia of him, and she eventually goes to apologize for her inexcusable behavior. She prays that he won't return the favor, in extreme torture.


**I do not** **own** **anything aside from the plot as this is just a fan creation. The franchise Happy Tree Friends and all its characters rightfully belong to Mondo Media and its respective creators.**

The morning's was nice and peaceful, till the post revival fatigue kicked in as a dandruff laden porcupine awoke from her not so peaceful slumber. She felt as though her body was being compressed till her body exploded. Oh wait, that's exactly how she died. No wonder. The little porcupine just laid in bed till the pain faded away, she then proceeded to wrap herself like a burrito in the sturdy but soft and warm blanket she had. Being a porcupine, having bullet proof like cloth was necessary.

Whenever she died, Flaky would always spend the next twenty-four hours in the safety of her abode. Even if death was inevitable and ridiculously frequent in the town she called home, each of her death would make her a bit more paranoid. Making her more and more phobic towards everything. Despite her paranoia, shes' still managed to do brave acts in times of immense danger in order to save herself when survival seemed possible. But still, she is more likely to flee than fight unless cornered.

Speaking of which, just happened very recently. Like, just last night. She quivered a bit remembering that terrifying evening. From finding her once 'close' friend trying to hitch a ride back to town and pretending to not notice him, having vivid hallucinations of him flipping out on her and basically murdering her in ways she really shouldn't be thinking about, to him helping her twice even in the pouring rain. And she returned his kindness, by stabbing him in the eye and getting him road killed. Makes you wonder why she's still okay right now.

The more she replayed those events in her mind, the more guilt crawled all over her soft little heart. She could never hate anyone, she could only fear them. She knew that her friend was suffering an illness called PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, well, at least that was what Lumpy had told her sometime ago. But of course that still didn't stop her from fearing him. Even though he didn't kill her when she first witnessed him flipping out during the first birthday party he had back home, watching all her other friends killed by the war veteran was of course: Terrifying. He did eventually kill her during an action movie, her corpse was even used as a temporary weapon. If she was terrified, then now she felt violated and horrified. So of course she just couldn't help but start avoiding him, thinking he has changed into a deranged psycho who killed simply for fun. He did, but not in the way she thought he did. It was still him, but someone else at the same time.

Shes' been very conflicted nowadays whenever he was involved in some form of discussion. To be with, or against him. At first, she would just stay as far as possible. But now, she didn't know what to do. He needs support and help, but it was far too much for the little porcupine to handle on a regular basis. She was too over the edge around him now, to cautious to even get close to him. Right now however, she needed to face him. It was just her nature to go and apologize for causing trouble and or death, even if she fears they might return the favor. Right now she is very tempted to not do her usual routine as her fear of Flippys' way of 'returning the favor', is just overwhelming simply because he has… 'interesting' methods of killing. Flaky just started having a bombardment of vividly horrifying hallucinations.

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and she passed out.

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It was noon by the time she awoke from her sudden paranoia attack, a splitting headache followed her wake. Flaky got out of her bed and went to her medicine cabinet and took a painkiller, then went to her kitchen to get some lunch. Her stomach was basically digesting itself due to the lack of sustenance for the past twelve hours. After her satisfying meal, she continued to do her usual indoor routine. She cleaned and fixed up her home, bathed to keep the dandruff flakes under control, had some light snacks while reading a book or watching a show or movie. She basically relaxed. The evening came and went while a nice little movie was on, and before she knew it the night was there. She then had a nice warm dinner and got ready for bed. Problem was she didn't feel sleepy, and she wasn't in the mood for late night television or reading. So she decided if she was going to apologize to the war veteran she indirectly killed or not. She spent the whole night thinking about it, but fell asleep. Undecided.

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Three Months Later

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…...yeesh…..

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Flaky has never felt more guilty in her entire life than right now. Just last week she went to Lumpys' to apologize for accidentally killing him by turning away from him when he was running towards her at an unstoppable speed for a hug. Needless to say, he got impaled by her dandruff covered spines. It just so happened that Flippy was over, and looked at her with a sad smile. She could see it in his eyes, disappointment. And she hasn't stopped feeling so guilt ridden ever since. It was making her more restless lately, and it wasn't really helpful. She couldn't take it anymore, it was time to deliver an overdue apology.

The day she chose to apologize to the war veteran was, awkward… it was valentine's day. She couldn't wait for the next day because her guilt was too unbearable, so if anyone were to ask, this is strictly platonic. She usually gives peace offerings when she apologizes, she makes sure that her gift will make them happy or help with a problem they have at the moment. Even though Flaky was Flippys' close friend, she wasn't really sure what to give him. They haven't reconnected that much since his return from the war for obvious reasons one should really know by now, if not one will question how you got here. So she wasn't a hundred percent sure if he still had the same likes and dislikes as before he became a soldier. After thinking long and hard, she decided to give him a bouquet of the most fragrant roses and vanilla orchids in an acrylic vase. She chose those specific flowers because she read that their fragrance has very calming effects, and a acrylic vase so it wouldn't shatter easily. Hopefully. After some mental preparation, the little porcupine headed out for the war veterans' house.

She was nervous, scratch that she was mortified to be standing in front of Flippys' house. "It's now or never!" she mentally yelled as her paranoia started kicking in. She rang his door bell, because knocking would get her killed. She waited for a few agonizing minutes, as she was starting to shiver from tension causing some of her loose dandruff to fall. A couple of minutes passed and she gradually stopped shivering, and not a single sound was heard but utter silence since the doorbell chimed. He was probably out? Maybe he got a valentine? After about twenty minutes of nothing she turned to leave, only to find Flippy...with blood on his hands. She flinched and trembled in fear, squeezing her eyes shut and tried to hide behind the bouquet of flowers she carried. She then remembered that his pupils dialate to yellow when he 'flips', gathering her courage she opens her eyes to see that his eyes weren't yellow. She stopped trembling and laughed nervously before speaking.

"H-h-hap-ppyv-V-valent-tines-sd-d-ayF-Flippy!" she stuttered, shoving the bouquet to his hands. And just left as fast as possible, leaving the lime green bear soldier confused.

She didn't stop running till she locked her bedroom door, and slumped to the floor. Covering her face with a pillow, she yelled in frustration and embarrassment. She was a major idiot, even worse than her tall blue moose friend. She just gave a man who she feared but also killed a bouquet of flowers, greeted him 'happy valentines' like a shy high school girl, and just left. She wanted to die permenantly at that moment. As she sulked, until a knock came. She prayed nothing else bad would happen.

Meanwhile the war veteran was extremely baffled. He was out on a little date with a pink furred chipmunk by the name of Giggles, it started great and ended with Fliqpy killing his date. Needless to say he was lucky to have only killed his date and a waiter before flipping back, despite getting slightly better control he was far from cured. After that shameful even he quickly went home to wash the blood off, doing it in public on that certain day may ruin the lovely mood that day for everyone else. He was supprised to see his old friend, Flaky standing in front of his house… carrying a bouquet of flowers? He approached her to ask why the sudden visit, only to be greeted a barely comprehensive 'happy valentines day' and have the flowers basically dropped in his bloody hands. And her bailing on him moments later. Confusion. Confusion everywhere. What did this all mean? Why did she do this? Where was this all supposed to be going? The freaking hell?

He ended up going to her house, to get straight answers. He knocked the door, and smiled to find he didn't flip out. It must have been the flowers, ever since he smelled their fragrance he felt calm and felt that he wasn't going to be flipping out anytime soon. He waited a bit till the door opened, and a little red porcupine shyly hid behind it but letting her face be visible. She nervously smiled at him, fear and guilt shining in her eyes.

"H-hey F-f-flippy… you must be confused?" she spoke almost in a whisper.

"... of course. I mean, what's this for?" he questioned holding up the vase of flowers. Flaky just laughed nervously.

"I-it's a peace offering! T-t-to s-say I'm sorry… Sorry... " she apologized. Then suddenly looked at Flippy with a mortified expression.

"D-d-d-d-don't-t m-m-miss-s-s-s u-u-u-und-der s-s-st-tand-d! P-please! I-I-I-I-" Flaky was hyperventilating.

"Hey hey hey! Calm down Flaky! Take deep breaths!" Flippy instructed quickly. Placing the vase on the floor, the war veteran quickly went to Flakys' side to try and prevent the porcupine from fainting. He stroked her back along where the spines faced away to avoid getting pricked, a trick he learned from the many years of being friends with the easily upset girl. The red porcupine started to take deep steady breaths, and soon started to breathe more naturally. The lime green bear still continued to stroke her spines carefully, till she calmed down completely. He then stopped to face her, she looked a lot better. She gave him a shy embarrassed smile, and avoided eye contact by looking to her right.

"...I'm… so sorry. I'm… sorry I hurt you and… caused you some trouble… sorry..." Flaky spoke while she was still calm. She felt better for finally saying what she's been meaning to say for the past few weeks. Finally she was free from guilt. Flippy just smiled and looked down to his feet.

"I've already forgiven you even if you didn't apologize, because I don't balme you for doing what you did. You didn't do anything wrong..." the lime green bear mentioned, and looked up to see her upset and concerned expression. He continued.

"I know you fear me and have every right to be, in fact I should be the one to apologize. Even with my… condition. It doesn't justify the crimes I've been committing all this time." as the war veteran finished. He expected the little porcupine to not apologize to him the minute he woke up, but that didn't stop him from hoping he was wrong. He was admittedly more selfish than one would assume. Then, the dandruff laden girl spoke up.

"Same goes for me! Just because I was afraid and thought that you were going to hurt me, doesn't justify the fact I caused you to die out of blind fear. AND you were helping me! How can I not feel guilty? And don't argue with me about this, don't be a hypocrite as well. Please." Flaky breathed deeply, her expression was serious. No trace of fear, she wasn't going to allow it this time. Flippy just stared at her in awe, slowly his expression changed to one of amazement. He always knew she could be capable of bravery, and was happy to witness it first hand.

"No you're definitely right, I just never considered it that way." the war veteran turned away to pick up the vase that was placed on the floor earlier, and turned to the red porcupine. He gave her a salute, and smiled.

"Apology accepted Ms. Flaky! And please." taking a thornless rose from his bouquet of flowers, the lime green bear managed to attach it in the red porcupines' dandruffed spines.

"Accept my deepest apologizes as well." he finished. Flaky felt the flower and smiled at Flippy. Her genuine cheerful smile. She was blushing, but her red fur covered it up perfectly.

"Apology accepted." Flaky returned. The two tree friends just smiled.

"Well, I have some business to take care of." the war veteran mentioned showing his paw, covered in dried up blood. Making Flaky feel a bit insecure and nauseating again, making her nod in understanding. Flippy turned and left through the door, he turned wanting to say something else but stopped and rushed back home. Thinking that it might not be the right time. Flaky on the other hand, looked into the mirror and gazed at the rose in her spine. She smiled happily, she never felt this happy in a long time.

She suddenly felt dizzy, and soon blacked out. Turned out, the rose stem punctured a numb spot behind her head and she has been losing blood fast since. Being in such a daze, made her fail to feel pain. Only in happy tree town folks, can this be a possibility. But her fatigue wasn't as bad the next day, so over all. It was fine.

 ** _Moral: "Better Late Than Never!"_**

 **Authors' Note**

 ***** Just wanted to post this before the end of February 2016.

*Have not written and posted a fic in a looooong time, please comment for any mistakes you may find and remember to be polite! I typed this on my tablet so yes it might be pretty bad. And if you find the characters acting out of character the please, tell me politely.

*I apologize if my writing style is a bit- iffy. I'll try to change it if there is a great demand for it

*Also what Flippy was about to say is up to your interpretation, just know that I planned him to apologize in advance for any future killings he may do but decided it might ruin the mood. And hey, imagination am I right?

*There are things in this story I wanna talk about but eh- I'll just let you guys ask me about it.

*Also, I might post another one shot about 'what if flaky had a flip side'. I just see it like possiblity for her to snap from this frustrating cycle of torture, death and seemingly endless fear. As well as her probably low self esteem. People have their own interpretation, so I'd like to see what people would think about mine.

*Till then, thank you for reading at this point.

Bye!


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